As to the consistency, I'd say YES, you're right. I couldn't agree more. I'd even extend it to most primetime TV viewers, not only soap viewers. I think if the shows aren't released on a schedule, people do lose interest and forget which episode they're caught up with. Also, the only way to create "water cooler moments" (or these days, "twitter feed moments") is to have everyone watching something at the same time. If there is no schedule, then people just begin randomly checking the website for new episodes, and that community element is lost.

The theme song... my own opinion is that theme songs are kind of out-of-date at this point. I think you should just gain the extra time for the show, put the logo over the first few frames, and run credits over the last scene (when needed). jmo though!